Denmark to ban petrol and diesel car sales by 2030

An electric car-sharing scheme in Copenhagen kicked off in 2015. [Steve Heap / Shutterstock] Denmark announced on Tuesday (2 October) that it will ban the sale of new cars with internal combustion engines by 2030 and hopes to have one million electric and hybrid cars on the roads by then. In a speech to parliament, Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said that “diesel and petrol cars in Denmark must be the past. The future is green,” adding that all sales of new fossil-fuel-powered cars will cease in 2030. Rasmussen’s energy minister, Lars Chr. Lilleholt, announced the ban during the government’s climate council last week but did not mention a timeframe in any detail. “In just 12 years, we will prohibit the sale of new diesel and petrol cars. And in 17 years, every new car in Denmark must be an electric car or other forms of zero-emissions car,” Rasmussen said, implying that hybrids will be phased out in 2035. The Danish leader also upped the ante on the number of electric cars that will be on the road by 2030, saying there could be one million electric and hybrid cars by then. Rasmussen admitted it will “not be easy” […]

Grant Brown is a passionate environmentalist, driven by a need to “leave it better than he found it”. This drive, combined with a capacity to understand power solutions of all types, helps him in his day job as VP Marketing at a start up clean technology company. His goal personally as well as professionally, is to help and inspire others to become a part of the green shift and to leave a positive legacy in the world.